full size suspension upgrades

[SeldomSeen]

Anyone running a grandby on a 3/4 ton upgrade their suspension? I've been considering putting in a carli suspension system but I'm not sure how their tunes would match up with the weight of the camper. Anyone running aftermarket systems that could weigh in on ride quality? I'm looking at a maximum of 3" lift, and would prefer to stay away from airbags/air suspensions for the sake of trail fix simplicity.

Here's the current rig.
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[K6ON]

I have an '07 short bed 3/4 ton Dodge with a Grandby on board. I opted for the Kore Recon Suspension System, and Carli Log Travel air bags. Everything is over 6 years old and holding up just fine. I just went with the 2" lift. I like the Kore Recon system, but I did NOT like dealing with Kore. The customer service was next to zero, and it took numerous phone calls to get parts that were left out of the kit.

I take the camper off quite often and tow a 26' travel trailer. Because of the trailer, I also added a Helwig "Big Wig" rear swaybar.

The truck handles great considering it's a big heavy diesel pickup with a 12000lb winch hanging off the front and a camper on the back. YMMV.

 

[ntsqd]

I'm under the impression that you can't deal with Kore any more? I wasn't impressed, at all, with the owner during a Vegas to Reno race several years ago.

'96 CTD ClubCab, long bed w/ 6.5' Phoenix camper in it full time. Stock springs front and rear, Bilstein 5165's front and rear. The only suspension mod that I've made is to flip the over-load leaves upside down. The truck & camper combo just doesn't need them and they make the ride much more buckboard-like. Not to mention shaking up the camper's contents in the process. Maybe I'm more tolerant of sway, but the truck has never felt unstable to me. I do think that it could use bigger shocks, but by the speed that I could really use them I'm going faster than a combo like this should be driven.

Early-on I talked to Don Thuren about some of his suspension pieces, but more lift would have just made it that much harder for my wife to get into the truck and his stuff really didn't start until about 2"-3" of lift.

 

[M1010 Mike]

I had National Spring build me a set of front coils and rear springs, which removed the factory lift blocks and overloads. They were built to the weight of the truck loaded (camper stays on 100% of the time). Technically it would be a 2" lift if the camper was off. Bascially it ends up at stock height at full weight (8600 lbs.). I have Bilstein 5160's all around. It rides great and the rear leaf pack is so plush and no axle hop. It rides nicer then most of my other vehicles. Still running factory sways front and rear. I can bomb down washboard roads at 45+ and it's smooth. Overall weight of the rig keeps speeds in check as trying to quickly slow down if you see a bad spot approaching, is not the easiest thing. I have hit a couple things harder than I wanted to.

 

[liftedlimo]

AEV just released their lift and bumpers for our rams. They reuse the stock springs because there are like 13(?) different springs for the 3/4 and 1 ton rams. They are a top notch company from everything I have read. You can even buy their stuff at the dealer!

http://www.aev-conversions.com/vehicles/ram

http://www.aev-conversions.com/shop/vehicle/ram/ram-hd-3-dualsport-sc-suspension

 

[hunt99]

Hello, new member here. I have a 2012 Ram PowerWagon with a full Carli top-end suspension. I have full spring replacement and with the gasser the rear springs are pretty soft with a lot of flex. I just sold my FWC Hawk and am building a custom ATC shell. I found significant rear spring compression with the Hawk.

My experience with the Carli springs suggests that long-travel airbags would be necessary to keep the proper ride height. If you kept the CTD rear springs on your rig, and just upgraded the shocks, etc. you may not see the same rear spring compression.

My suspension has the top-end 3" King shocks all the way around which are very nice. Carli has many other options and may have something configured and tuned for camper use. I got my suspension mods before buying the Hawk.

 

[ntsqd]

FWIW I found some long travel air springs on airbaggit.com whose specs make them look quite capable for our use. Don't need one for the CTD, but I'm not yet sure how well the Bronc-up is going to handle a heavy load. With the capacity of some of those air springs I could use one centered on the diff housing.

 

[JeffW]

Hello! I'll second what cummins_mike said about custom springs. I am the proud new owner of a Raven. We have it on our Chevy 1500 crew cab. It was lifted on 4" blocks under the rear leaf springs. Also traction bars to fix the problems that caused is how I got it. Even without the camper the suspension sucked and didn't move at all.

I chose to completely replace the springs so I do not worry about air bags and bolt on support leaves. We are hard on the truck. At least before the camper went on! Many people are happy with the air bags I know.

I ordered custom leaf springs from Atlas Suspension (http://www.atlassuspension.com/faq.html). In particular the Expedition Pack OEM + 6" lift for the Chevy 2500 truck spec. Atlas did a great job installing them and I recommend letting them do it if you are near Southern Cal. That way you can show up overloaded with the trailer and be more likely to go home happy.

Now the 1400 lb Raven plus our gear is well supported back there. In retrospect maybe I needed to go up another inch or two as it still squats a bit in the back. It feels supported well and turns great. We'll see how high it goes back when the camper comes off. Probably 2-3 inches.

The best part is the ride improvement. What a huge difference! The Bilsteins can now do their job. Here are a few picture before and after below.

Cheers!

Before:

After: